Local

• POS: Adjective, Noun
• HYPHEN: lo=cal

CIDE DICTIONARY

Local, a. [L. localis, fr. locus place: cf. F. local. See Lieu, Locus.].

 Of or pertaining to a particular place, or to a definite region or portion of space; restricted to one place or region; as, a local custom.  [1913 Webster]
"Gives to airy nothing
A local habitation and a name."  [1913 Webster]

Local actions (Law), actions such as must be brought in a particular county, where the cause arises; -- distinguished from transitory actions. -- Local affection (Med.), a disease or ailment confined to a particular part or organ, and not directly affecting the system. -- Local attraction (Magnetism), an attraction near a compass, causing its needle to deviate from its proper direction, especially on shipboard. -- Local battery (Teleg.), the battery which actuates the recording instruments of a telegraphic station, as distinguished from the battery furnishing a current for the line. -- Local circuit (Teleg.), the circuit of the local battery. -- Local color. (a) (Paint.) The color which belongs to an object, and is not caused by accidental influences, as of reflection, shadow, etc. (b) (Literature) Peculiarities of the place and its inhabitants where the scene of an action or story is laid. -- Local option, the right or obligation of determining by popular vote within certain districts, as in each county, city, or town, whether the sale of alcoholic beverages within the district shall be allowed.

Local, n. 

•  A train which receives and deposits passengers or freight along the line of the road; a train for the accommodation of a certain district.
•  In newspaper cant, an item of news relating to the place where the paper is published.  [1913 Webster]
•  A train or bus which stops at all stations along a line, as contrasted with an express, which stops only at certain stations designated as express stops.  [PJC]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Local, adj. & n.
--adj.
1 belonging to or existing in a particular place or places.
2 peculiar to or only encountered in a particular place or places.
3 of or belonging to the neighbourhood (the local doctor).
4 of or affecting a part and not the whole, esp. of the body (local pain; a local anaesthetic).
5 in regard to place.
--n. a local person or thing, esp.:
1 an inhabitant of a particular place regarded with reference to that place.
2 a local train, bus, etc.
3 (often prec. by the) Brit. colloq. a local public house.
4 a local anaesthetic.
5 US a local branch of a trade union.

Idiom

local authority Brit. an administrative body in local government. local Derby see DERBY. local government a system of administration of a county, district, parish, etc., by the elected representatives of those who live there. local option (or veto) esp. US a system whereby the inhabitants of a district may prohibit the sale of alcoholic liquor there. local preacher a Methodist lay person authorized to conduct services in a particular circuit. local time
1 time measured from the sun's transit over the meridian of a place.
2 the time as reckoned in a particular place, esp. with reference to an event recorded there. local train a train stopping at all the stations on its route.

Derivative

locally adv. localness n.

Etymology

ME f. OF f. LL localis f. L locus place

THESAURUS

Local

Amtrak, Pullman, Pullman car, aboriginal, aborigine, adjoining, affiliate, alehouse, arm, autochthon, baggage car, baggage train, bar, barrel house, barroom, beer garden, beer parlor, bistro, blind tiger, boxcar, branch, branch office, cabaret, cable railroad, caboose, cafe, car, carriage, chair car, chapter, choo-choo, city, close by, coach, coal car, cocktail lounge, cog railroad, cog railway, collective bargaining, company union, confined, county, covered waggon, craft union, day coach, dialect, dialectal, diner, dinghy, dining car, district, dive, division, dramshop, drawing room, drinking saloon, earliest inhabitant, el, electric, electric train, elevated, express, express train, first comer, flat, flatcar, flier, freight, freight train, freighter, funicular, geographically limited, gin mill, gondola, goods train, groggery, grogshop, honky-tonk, horizontal union, idiomatic, indigene, industrial union, insular, interurban, labor union, lightning express, limited, local union, local yokel, localized, lodge, luggage van, mail car, mail van, metro, milk train, monorail, municipal, native, nearby, nightclub, of a place, offshoot, organ, organized labor, palace car, parliamentary, parliamentary train, parlor car, parochial, particular, passenger car, passenger train, peculiar, post, pothouse, primitive, primitive settler, provincial, pub, public, public house, rack-and-pinion railroad, railroad train, railway car, rathskeller, rattler, reefer, refrigerator car, regional, resident, restricted, rolling stock, roomette, rumshop, saloon, saloon bar, sectarian, shire, shuttle, shuttle train, sleeper, small-town, smoker, smoking car, speakeasy, special, specific, state, stockcar, streamliner, subway, tank, taproom, tavern, tender, topical, town, townsman, townswoman, trade guild, trade union, train, truck, tube, underground, union local, van, vernacular, vertical union, village, waggon, way train, wine shop, wing

ROGET THESAURUS

Local

Region

N region, sphere, ground, soil, area, field, realm, hemisphere, quarter, district, beat, orb, circuit, circle, reservation, pale, compartment, department, clearing, (property) &c 780 (Government), 1 arena, precincts, enceinte, walk, march, patch, plot, parcel, inclosure, close, field, court, enclave, reserve, preserve, street, clime, climate, zone, meridian, latitude, biosphere, lithosphere, territorial, local, parochial, provincial, regional.

Situation

N situation, position, locality, locale, status, latitude and longitude, footing, standing, standpoint, post, stage, aspect, attitude, posture, pose, environment, surroundings (location), circumjacence, place, site, station, seat, venue, whereabouts, ground, bearings, spot, topography, geography, chorography, map, situate, situated, local, topical, topographical, in situ, in loco, here and there, passim, hereabouts, thereabouts, whereabouts, in place, here, there, in such and such surroundings, in such and such environs, in such and such entourage, amidst such and such surroundings, amidst such and such environs, amidst such and such entourage.